Heya and welcome to Five Things Tech!
If you look at the subject, it’s kind of hard to understand how all these topics are connected to each other.
Please read on and find out.
See what I am doing here? I am really trying hard to get you to read the rest of the newsletter.
Enjoy.
Big Tech Can Build Data Centers People Won’t Hate
We could be living in a golden age of data centers, one in which communities welcome the contributions to their tax base and have little to fear in terms of noise, air pollution or rising utility rates. Decades-in-the-making technologies are now becoming viable alternatives to outdated systems for cooling and power. Data centers that blend into their communities and don’t overtax local resources actually exist, they just don’t make news.
Instead, pushback from communities over noise, electricity costs and secretive development processes across the U.S. is leaving many builders with a stark choice: Do better, or face indefinite delay—even cancellation.
It’s interesting how hated data-centers are. Have you every see a refinery or a large automotive plant? It’s not entirely paradise at all, either.
Ukraine’s Most Potent Weapon: The Software Orchestrating Its Drone Army
Col. Artem Martynenko, who oversees the development of the software for the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, called Delta the “nervous system” of the army of drones that have brought Russian advances to a near standstill.
Western militaries have begun to take note. Daniel Driscoll, the U.S. Army secretary, has called the software “absolutely incredible” and acknowledged that American forces were playing catch-up.
Delta’s battlefield management system “fully integrates every single drone, every sensor and every shooting platform into just one single network,” Mr. Driscoll told the Senate in May, adding, “Ours does not.”
Ukrainian ingenuity is really amazing and they are so innovative, because they have to. I am sure Ukraine will push Europe forward and lead the way into a new tech push for the continent.
VC isn’t VC anymore — understanding the rise of Cancer Capital
We really, really need to talk about venture capital. Because it’s not “venture capital” anymore.
There’s a huge disconnect between what most people think of VC, where an investor has a big fund and cuts checks to help a founder build a company, and the current reality, where a handful of billionaire extremists use the cover of “VC” to advance an outrageous agenda where they’re accountable to no one.
AI will shake up VC and bootstrapping will be the new normal. VC will need to reinvent itself or become asset-class of the past.
Solar panels bolted over 2 working irrigation canals in California’s Central Valley cut evaporation beneath them by as much as 70 percent, and the aquatic weed that fouls those channels dropped by about 85 percent
Sun on open water drives two processes at once. It lifts vapor off the surface, and it feeds the plants growing in the channel.
Block the light and both slow down together.
The panels intercept radiation that would otherwise warm the top few inches, so less water leaves before it reaches a field. The same shadow withholds the light algae and submerged plants need to photosynthesize, a separate mechanism with a separate payoff.
Heat and wind matter as well, and a canal running fast loses less than one standing still. But sunlight is the input both processes share, and it is the only one a canopy removes.
Just imagine how many solar panels we can deploy and get shade and energy at the same time, plus other unintended consequences.
Dyson made a camera-equipped toothbrush that flosses for you
Just below the brush head is a tiny camera with a 100,000-pixel resolution and a strobing light. The toothbrush’s AI analyzes 28 live images from the camera every second as part of a feature Dyson calls Gap Optical Targeting, without storing them on the device or sending them to the cloud. Within 100 milliseconds of a gap between your teeth being detected, the CameraJet emits a cone-shaped blast of mouthwash to clean out the space. Dyson uses a wider blast than what water flossers typically employ so it can effectively remove plaque with less pressure, making the CameraJet’s flossing mechanism gentler on enamel and gums
What a time to be alive.
That’s all for now! Thanks for reading! If you missed last week’s Five Things Tech, you can find it here:
🤖
— Nico